Imp’s Reviews > Public Opinion > Status Update
Imp
is on page 260 of 288
THE APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC
Private citizens couldn't digest all this information, most issues can only be dealt with by well informed insiders.
The public can only judge whether the conditions and procedures are sound, but not the facts themselves.
Appealing to the public usually means escaping insider criticism and winning popularity contest -> citizen can be made skeptical through education
Insisting on procedure
— Jan 31, 2026 02:07AM
Private citizens couldn't digest all this information, most issues can only be dealt with by well informed insiders.
The public can only judge whether the conditions and procedures are sound, but not the facts themselves.
Appealing to the public usually means escaping insider criticism and winning popularity contest -> citizen can be made skeptical through education
Insisting on procedure
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Imp’s Previous Updates
Imp
is on page 272 of 288
THE APPEAL TO REASON
Plato's ship at sea
"it is not the order of nature that I should handle a mutiny..."
"We shall all go on the rocks, they to be punished for their sins;, I, with the assurance that I knew better..."
Reason is slower than the rate at which action has to be taken
Discovery and the propagation of that which is proven takes time
Looking with hope even in dark events
— Jan 31, 2026 02:19AM
Plato's ship at sea
"it is not the order of nature that I should handle a mutiny..."
"We shall all go on the rocks, they to be punished for their sins;, I, with the assurance that I knew better..."
Reason is slower than the rate at which action has to be taken
Discovery and the propagation of that which is proven takes time
Looking with hope even in dark events
Imp
is on page 265 of 288
Disputes and how judges decide the basic facts of an issue and "boil the fat out of" it, leaving only well defined facts.
All who are not entangled now will not be entangled as they can view the issue through the facts and not stereotypes and slogans.
All this can lead to the liquidation of the "censoring, stereotyping and dramatizing apparatus"
Civic education as preparation for dealing with the unseen environment
— Jan 31, 2026 02:13AM
All who are not entangled now will not be entangled as they can view the issue through the facts and not stereotypes and slogans.
All this can lead to the liquidation of the "censoring, stereotyping and dramatizing apparatus"
Civic education as preparation for dealing with the unseen environment
Imp
is on page 257 of 288
Information collected by bureaus would be available to all for study
Dry rot -> circulation of men and ideas b/w agencies
— Jan 31, 2026 02:00AM
Dry rot -> circulation of men and ideas b/w agencies
Imp
is on page 251 of 288
INTELLIGENCE WORK
Specialists in departments learn all they can and send reports
Experts translate, but must not have a "policy"
Assembling of information and control of policy must be divorced
Power of experts comes from impartiality
Existing bureaucracy can't be overhauled -> info agencies for each one make the work of each agency visible to all
The question of funding
Coordination, standards of measurement
— Jan 31, 2026 01:57AM
Specialists in departments learn all they can and send reports
Experts translate, but must not have a "policy"
Assembling of information and control of policy must be divorced
Power of experts comes from impartiality
Existing bureaucracy can't be overhauled -> info agencies for each one make the work of each agency visible to all
The question of funding
Coordination, standards of measurement
Imp
is on page 244 of 288
THE ENTERING WEDGE
The social scientist -> how does he get his laboratory?"
Low status -> low confidence and influence
Assembles data out of mass of unrelated material
Several data gathering institutions demonstrate the need to interpose "expertness" between the private citizen and the wider world
— Jan 30, 2026 03:18AM
The social scientist -> how does he get his laboratory?"
Low status -> low confidence and influence
Assembles data out of mass of unrelated material
Several data gathering institutions demonstrate the need to interpose "expertness" between the private citizen and the wider world
Imp
is on page 238 of 288
NEWS, TRUTH AND A CONCLUSION
Distinction between news and truth
News is regarded as organ of direct democracy, but cannot translate the whole of public life.
Quality of information machinery -> social organization -> quality of news
Primary defect of popular government is expecting news to translate the unseen environment without expert institutions that gather data.
— Jan 30, 2026 03:15AM
Distinction between news and truth
News is regarded as organ of direct democracy, but cannot translate the whole of public life.
Quality of information machinery -> social organization -> quality of news
Primary defect of popular government is expecting news to translate the unseen environment without expert institutions that gather data.
Imp
is on page 233 of 288
Due to the above, to create ideological news, one can arrange a stunt.
The strike is reported when & as it affects the special reader, to the people involved it is much more richly complicated.
Complex circumstances -> overt act as signal -> signal published as stereotyped bulletin -> meaning injected by reader
No formal process -> reporter/editor discretion
Change of direction risky, better to let news taper out
— Jan 29, 2026 02:41AM
The strike is reported when & as it affects the special reader, to the people involved it is much more richly complicated.
Complex circumstances -> overt act as signal -> signal published as stereotyped bulletin -> meaning injected by reader
No formal process -> reporter/editor discretion
Change of direction risky, better to let news taper out
Imp
is on page 225 of 288
THE NATURE OF NEWS
Watchers stationed at places.
Example of "John Smith" -> newspapers know in a few minutes the bald facts recorded at the County Clerk's Office.
For news, something definite must occur in unmistakable form, a manifestation.
News is the report of an aspect of social conditions, not of seeds germinating, but of first sprouts.
News service requires a good machinery of record.
— Jan 29, 2026 02:35AM
Watchers stationed at places.
Example of "John Smith" -> newspapers know in a few minutes the bald facts recorded at the County Clerk's Office.
For news, something definite must occur in unmistakable form, a manifestation.
News is the report of an aspect of social conditions, not of seeds germinating, but of first sprouts.
News service requires a good machinery of record.
Imp
is on page 220 of 288
THE CONSTANT READER
Constancy depends on habits
Judgement of news based on how we feel involved -> accountability as special readers -> news edited for people who wish to read about themselves
"printed diary of a home town"
Economics of news - reporting most poorly paid
Deeper reason -> The Brass Check
What is the "fair body of truth"?
— Jan 29, 2026 02:29AM
Constancy depends on habits
Judgement of news based on how we feel involved -> accountability as special readers -> news edited for people who wish to read about themselves
"printed diary of a home town"
Economics of news - reporting most poorly paid
Deeper reason -> The Brass Check
What is the "fair body of truth"?
Imp
is on page 213 of 288
A NEW IMAGE
In absence of specialized institutions, Common Interest eludes Public Opinion and is managed by a specialized, irresponsible class.
Democratic theory: Trying to control government at the source -> downstream decisions invisible
THE BUYING PUBLIC
Economics of news -> democratic theory demands truth is not earned but given gratis -> newspapers beholden to buying public and advertisers
— Jan 23, 2026 02:57AM
In absence of specialized institutions, Common Interest eludes Public Opinion and is managed by a specialized, irresponsible class.
Democratic theory: Trying to control government at the source -> downstream decisions invisible
THE BUYING PUBLIC
Economics of news -> democratic theory demands truth is not earned but given gratis -> newspapers beholden to buying public and advertisers
